


'Tuber Minds

by Arelia_Luminot, SatinRibbon



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe - YouTube, Angst, Friendship, It'll be a happy ending, Little bit of angst, M/M, Mama Garcia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-04-28 12:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5090960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arelia_Luminot/pseuds/Arelia_Luminot, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SatinRibbon/pseuds/SatinRibbon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Genius Spencer Reid is a the host of a YouTube show that focuses on the weird things about the world.  Former Detective Aaron Hotchner hosts a show that was about serial killers.  When Hotch fails to recognize Reid at a convention, the young genius is devastated, but the incident causes Hotch to not only watch Reid’s show, but also comes to respect him and his topics.  Will Hotch and Reid be able to manage a relationship though?  How will their fans react?  And what kind of show would Rossi and Morgan put on YouTube?  Read to find out!<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting His Idol

**Author's Note:**

> The shows discussed in this are not mine. Criminal Minds is not mine, and the other shows referenced belong to Rob Dyke, Danisnotonfire, and Amazingphil.  
> Please, feel free to give feedback!

The convention building's ceiling curved overhead causing the voices of the crowd on the other side of the curtain to be amplified. The curtain itself was black and rather thick, allowing the people behind it to greet each other and get to know the other youtubers before the panel started. It also gave off a rather claustrophobic vibe, making everything seem to press in on them. The floor was carpeted, and in desperate need of a vacuum. Goodness only knew what all was on it. Actually, Spencer could probably count at least 50 different germs that could be on it, but he was currently trying to avoid that train of thought.   
There were a lot of youtubers that he recognized, and a few he was a fan of. J.J. and Prentiss were mingling rather smoothly and Garcia, Spencer’s co-host, was hopping around from person to person. David Rossi was actually there, both he and his co-host Morgan flirting shamelessly with attractive women. Reid himself was currently hiding in a corner, trying his hardest not to be noticed. It wasn't that he was shy, he just didn't want to face the inevitable disappointment when people didn't recognize him.  
Sure, Spencer had quite the following, but no one had ever responded for his requests for a collaboration and he had never really had a request for one either. Though, it could be because of the graphic nature of some of his content. Not everyone was willing to face the strangeness that existed in the world. People tended to avoid the inexplicable, fear the different, and Doctor Spencer Reid was definitely inexplicable and different. He embraced that through his show, and had somehow found a following doing what he loved. A peculiar following that seemed to love putting him in flower crowns, and calling him cute, but it was his following nonetheless.  
As he was musing these things over, Reid spotted a youtuber that he had been following religiously. As a matter of fact, he was actually his inspiration for becoming a youtuber in the first place. His content was both intriguing and disturbing on a level that could keep Spencer's attention for hours. Often times, he found himself debating with other viewers the accuracy and legitimate usage of some of the theories that Hotchner brought up. That is why the untimely arrival of Aaron Hotchner, host of Profiles, was what finally prompted the young Doctor to move away from the wall. Swallowing his fear, he strode up to the other man.   
"I'm a huge fan of your channel, and find some of your points and theories on them rather fascinating. You obviously must have some experience in law and psychology. Not everyone can try and determine the why the killers you covered did what they did and most of the time it's just speculation! I rather like to think that your hypothesis on the Grim Sleeper was rather intricate, and it hasn't even been solved yet. Oh, I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, by the way. It really is a pleasure to meet you!" Spencer somehow gushed in one breath. He tended to do that when he was nervous and he had lost track of himself once he had started talking. Which tended to destroy the whole 'first impression' thing. A strange sort of look passed over Aaron's face and he looked almost confused.   
"I'm sorry, are you supposed to be back here? I thought the panel was only for people who are youtubers." With that statement, Spencer completely deflated, though tried to keep his attitude unaffected on the outside. It felt like someone had just stabbed him through the chest with a javelin. It was a struggle for him not to just walk away and wilt in the corner for the rest of the night. He had just decided to that when suddenly Garcia was hugging him from behind.  
“Actually, Boy Wonder here is a youtuber. He and I do a show called Weird Happenings. Our shows are actually pretty similar!” She enthused. Spencer was actually rather thankful she had come to save the day and he had to give Aaron credit for looking rather ashamed of himself, and for not shying away from the loud woman. Garcia’s blond hair was currently streaked with orange and green to match the dress that she wore. Her feet were enclosed in huge thick heels that made Spencers feet ache in sympathy. How could she walk in those things, let alone run and apparently sneak up on the genius? He would probably never know. He gave her a thankful smile over his shoulder.   
“Oh, I’m sorry. Well, I look forward to hearing about your channel during the panel.” Oh, that was a rather smooth cover up for a faux paz, Spencer thought.  
“We look forward to your speech as well.” Garcia said, already beginning to drag Spencer away. Spencer turned to Garcia and wondered what had caused her to apparently apparate behind him and help him through that rather awkward conversation.   
“Garcia, where did you come from? You just appeared out of nowhere.” He asked her, his tone was rather teasing in an attempt to seem unaffected by the heart breaking realization that his idol had no idea that he even existed.  
“Oh, I was just hitting on a tall piece of dark chocolate when I noticed my nerd baby making a move towards his long time idol, and I thought I should see how it went.” She explained as she pulled him through the crowd. Once they got somewhere a bit more private she held her arms open for a hug.  
“Oh you poor baby nerd come here and give momma geek a hug.”  
Spencer smiled softly, knowing that if he didn’t, that she would just hug him anyway. Besides, she meant well and she knew how much he loved that man’s channel. Spencer stepped into her arms and hugged her rather tightly, burying his face in her shoulder.   
The situation was so disappointing, it really was, but despite the fact that Hotchner’s opinion actually meant a lot to him, his fans meant more. The comments that his fans left for him were amazing and the fact that they actually did like his content (and in some cases even looked further into it) made his heart actually hurt with happiness. They were the ones that mattered, not some other youtuber.   
“Thank you, Penelope.” He said, giving her a sappy smile.   
“Any time, baby nerd, now come on. We’ve got a panel to run to show that big shot what for,” Penelope nearly crooned, seeming bent on revenge for embarrassing her friend. Reid found that sweet but he really could handle himself.  
“Despite the fact that I really want to argue with you about being protected, you are right about one thing. We do have a panel to do,” Spencer told her with a smile. This was actually rather exciting. His first panel! He’d only been doing this for little over a year. It was time to see the product of that year of hard work.


	2. Behind the Scenes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid finally issues his new episode and gets a surprise in his email-

“So, what now, Junior G-man?” 

“Penelope, can you please stop with the names right now? We are currently in the middle of a crisis!” 

Spencer was preparing for the camera to be turned on, psyching himself up for the new episode. This was the first episode since the panel and he wanted this one to be good because he had decided to skip a week to recuperate from jet lag. He was covering a rather serious topic this for this episode, so it had to be perfect. That was if he could get himself into an actual serious mood. Penelope always made it extremely hard to stay serious because she would make faces at what he was saying from behind the camera or make fun of his dramatic pauses and gesticulating.

“Reid baby, a bad hair day is not a crisis.” The bubbly blonde tech geek admonished.

Reid blinked, a hand flitting to his hair, a frown dancing on his lips. “What’s wrong with my hair?” 

“Oh, uh, I thought that was the crisis you were talking about, Sugar. What’s the actual crisis?” 

‘no seriously Garcia, what’s wrong with my hair?” Reid asked, walking around the camera to rewind what had already been filmed.

“Nothing, of course nothing, Sugar. Everyone loves the boyish...pretty look your long hair gives you.” She assured, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m getting a haircut.” Reid murmured, running his hands through his locks.

“But...but you let me braid your hair..” Garcia pouted, crossing her arms indignantly. 

“That’s not even all that important right now. The real problem is the fact that I only have 3,999 words scripted! I need at least 4,000!” Garcia rolled her eyes, thinking that this would be easy enough to solve. 

“Well, did you sign off?” She asked, whisking the script from his hands. She scanned it over, frowning a bit.

“Well, we always post on Wednesdays, so just state that you’ll see them then?” She offered, handing it back to him, causing Reid to light up like a Christmas tree. 

“That’s brilliant Garcia.” the genius said, jumping around so that he was back in front of the camera. He closed his eyes, cleared his throat, and turned to look at the camera, waiting for Garcia’s signal.

“Aaand, Action!”   
“Allen Loom was known to his friends and family as a serious and realistic man. He was the kind of man that lived facts, and despised whimsy. That is why it was such a shock when his loving wife Tiffany was asked by Mr. Loom why she had yet to bury him, his voice sounding heartwrenchingly anxious. Mr. Loom suffered from what is known as Cotard’s Syndrome, a delusion that caused him to believe that his body was rotting, his flesh peeling off, and his organs falling out. Basically, when Mr. Loom looked into the mirror, he realized that he, was deceased.”

“Actually, the first known case of this syndrome was in 1788, when a woman went completely numb on one side of her body. After it had passed, she insisted that her relatives treat her as if she were dead, to wrap her in a shroud and place in her a coffin so that they could mourn her. But this is not where the syndrome got its name. The delusion was coined when Jules Cotard, a French Neurologist treated a woman he called Mademoiselle X. Mademoiselle X thought herself to have no brain, no nerves, no intestines...No heart. In fact, she thought herself immortal. Due to these beliefs, she didn’t see why she should eat and died of starvation. This syndrome varies on person to person, but often it involves the person believing that they are dead in some fashion.” 

As the show went on, Spencer visibly relaxed, and became more confident. He even threw in some witty comments that he had not been in the script. Garcia, made her faces, and even got him to laugh once, which she wanted to keep in the finished edit, but Spencer refused. By the time it go to the end, He delivered his line with a cocky assuredness that was not like the shy man’s normal behavior. As matter of fact, this side of Reid only ever seemed to come out on camera.

“I’m Spencer Reid, and as long as I’m sure of my livelihood, I’ll see you lovelies next week.” Spencer stated, winking at the camera before Garcia motioned that the camera was now off. 

“Oh, my gosh what did I just say? Did I wink at the camera? Garcia you have to cut that out!” Spencer stammered out, panicking the moment the camera was off.

“No way nerd, this is sssoooo going on your top ten sexy moments list.” Garcia sang out, clutching the camera tight to her chest. Spencer spluttered, unsure how to take this, until his mind latched onto the last portion of the sentence. 

“Wait...I have a list for that?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. Was that an actual thing? It didn’t sound like it should be. 

“No, don’t answer that.” Reid said holding a hand up when Garcia went to reply. He decided that it was probably best not to know.

“Okay, well, I’m going to go ahead and start editing this.” Garcia said, carrying the camera over to her work desk. Spencer had given his desk to her when they started their channel, and it had quickly been filled with all kinds of toys and fuzzy things. It was amusing, how eagerly Penelope had taken over that part of the filming studio, but he thought it added something that had been previously missing. 

While Penelope got to work on the film, Spencer grabbed his laptop and began to go through his e-mails. Since Spencer really did not like technology, Garcia and he had come to an agreement when they first started their channel. According to their agreement, while Garcia edited the show, Spencer had to check his e-mail, update his statuses on the various accounts that Garcia had opened for him, and flip through his fan mail. At first Reid had dreaded the process, but now he looked forward to it. He had even become friends with other YouTubers thanks to the deal. Reid came to a stop though when he saw an e-mail in his mailbox. he swallowed nervously and clicked it, praying that it was not some cruel joke.

From: nobodyremembersthevictims@gmail.com

To: afraidofyourownmind52@gmail.com

Date: 10/9/15

Subject: So I Watched Your Show

 

Dr. Reid,

I wanted to apologize for not recognizing you at the convention. I realized that I probably could have handled the situation better, but to be completely honest, I was worried about being on stage. I know that must be strange considering the fact that I have a YouTube show.

Anyway, to make up for it I decided to check out your work. I have to say, I have quickly become a fan. I may have binge watched a few of your shows (the first seven) last night. I hope to catch up soon, and look forward to seeing your newest episode.

Sincerely,

Hotch  
Aaron Hotchner

“He apologized.” Spencer breathed, not really talking to anyone.

“What was that baby cakes?” Garcia said, turning to look at him.

“He apologized, Garcia. He watched my shows. Oh my gosh, Garcia, he liked my shows!” Spencer said, beginning to hyperventilate. This was the same reaction he had to the first comment they had ever gotten, so Garcia was used to it. She stood up and walked over to cradle his head and coo at him as she read over his shoulder.

“Aww, my little neard’s senpai noticed him!” She said when she was done. 

“And he liked my show!” Spencer replied.

“You have to email him back!” Garcia cried out, clapping her hands together excitedly. This was the YouTuber that Spencer had been mooning over for such a long time and now he had the chance to actually talk to him! It seemed too good of a chance to pass up.

“What...No no, I couldn’t possibly do that!” Spencer huffed out in horror, eyes growing wide at just the thought. What would he even say? He was sure he would make a complete and utter fool out of himself. 

“Yes, yes you have to, come on, please? It’d be so cute! Maybe we could do a collab with him!” Garcia squeed out happily. 

“No, absolutely not!” Spencer stated vehemently, but his will was slowly bending to Garcia’s. When Garcia started to look a little disappointed, he finally stated with as much determination as before. 

“I’m gonna email him back.”


	3. Communication is Key

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is really, really short-

“Oooh, what are you going to write to him?!” Garcia asked, looming over him as she watched him type. She watched him write and rewrite this email several times before she smirked, reaching over him and pushing his hands out of the way, taking over the typing. 

“Oh, Mr. Hotchner, it was just simply a pleasure to meet you at all! I hadn’t expected your hair to be so soft looking or your brown eyes to be so vibrawaesrdhjk”

“No, Garcia!” Reid exclaimed, trying to fight for control of his keyboard resulting in a list of random   
characters. Garcia laughed as she backed away. 

“Come on Reid, it’s not like I’m asking you to write a love letter here, just thank the man, gush about his show to stroke his ego, and make it obvious that you would be open to further communication…, unless! Oh my gosh Reid! You like llllliiiiiikkkkkeeee him!” Penelope squealed.

“I do not! I barely even know him!” Reid spluttered, turning bright red. Garcia just smiled patronizingly and grabbed her empty mug. 

“Sure lover boy. Need a refill while I’m in the kitchen?” She asked, gesturing towards Spencer’s own empty cup. 

“Yes please.” He replied. “And don’t forget the sugar again.” Garcia rolled her eyes as she grabbed his cup. As soon as she was out of the room Spencer turned back to the computer screen. He spoke out loud as he typed.

“ ‘Dear Mr. Hotchner’. No wait, is that to formal? ‘Dear Aaron’… No, too Familiar. ‘Dear Aaron Hotchner, I thank you for your apology, but I assure you that it was entirely unnecessary. Upon reflection of the incident it makes sense to me that you did not know of my show. I never made any move to reach out to you, and as a fellow YouTuber I know that no matter how much we want to, it is physically impossible to maintain a healthy lifestyle and get to know each and every fan individually. I thank you for your interest in my show, and hope you enjoyed this week’s topic. As you already know, I am a huge fan of your show. I don’t want to sound too forward, but I would like to ask you to think about the possibility of doing a collab sometime in the future.’ Okay that is extremely forward.” Spencer was about to erase it when Garcia jumped forward and grabbed the wireless mouse Spencer used. Then, she used the touchpad to click send before Spencer could even react.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll thank me for this.” Garcia replied in a panicked voice. Spencer took a calming breath, and then fixed her with a look.

“You could have just said so. Then I could have at least finished the letter and signed it.” He pointed out.

“But you haven’t taken any of my suggestions so far!” Garcia retaliated.  
“Yes I did! The whole letter was written just like you said!” He deflected. Garcia blinked and thought about it.

“Oh. It was. Oops.” she said, suddenly cheerful again.

“Well here’s your coffee.” She picked the cup that she had discreetly sat on her desk while Spencer was working on the letter. She handed it to him in a flurry of movements, and took a seat next to him on the couch.

“Thank you, Mama Geek.” Spencer said, taking a sip and appreciating the sweet flavor.

“You’re welcome, baby nerd.” Garcia replied, smiling at him affectionately.

“Do you think he’ll reply?” Spencer asked warily.

“I know he will. Because if he doesn’t I’ll hack his computer and leave a program that opens your channel every time he opens a program on his computer.” She jokes. Spencer chuckles.

The next morning.

Spencer is buried in a book about irregular diseases when his laptop dings. He ignores it figuring that it was probably just Garcia asking about their next topic. A few minutes later, when he had reached the end of the book, he took his laptop off of the coffee table and went to his e-mail. He had been correct in assuming that the ping was Garcia, but above her message was a reply form Hotchner. Spencer’s eyes grew wide. According to the time stamp on the e-mail, Hotch had replied not long after Reid had sent the letter.


	4. The Day Met the Night.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know this is late, but life got in the way, sadly. Hopefully, this fluff will make up for it!

Spencer checked the time, wondering just how long planning this collaboration would take, especially when they seemed to not be taking anything seriously. The owners of said Channel were Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss. At first glance, they seemed polar opposites, as one seemed to be from the ‘in’ crowd and the other appeared to be emo or goth. Currently, Spencer, Jennifer (who went by J.J.), and Emily were sitting at a local coffee shop. They were supposed to be coming up with an idea for their collab, but it seemed as though the girls were currently too obsessed with their bubble tea. Spencer himself had chosen a hot beverage, packed full of sugar.

“So, a little birdy told us that a certain someone has a secret crush.” Emily said, giving Spencer that look that said they weren’t going to let this go. Spencer glared at her.

“And did this ‘little birdy’ also happen to mention that she has no actual proof that said ‘crush’ exists?” he asked.

“No, but she did say there was some correspondence?” J.J. asked, innocently staring at her perfectly manicured multi-colored nails. Reid sighed in defeat. 

“He just wanted to let me know that he found my show interesting,” he reluctantly admitted.

“And?” Emily prompted.

“And what? That was all?” Spencer said. Emily rolled her eyes, and J.J. giggled.

“Come on Spence, there had to be more to it than ‘hey I like your show.’ Did he say what he liked about it, or if he wanted to do a collab?” J.J. asked.

“No, and even if he had it wouldn’t change the fact that we have a collab to plan. Do either of you have any suggestions?” he asked.

“Not really, I can’t think at the moment.” Prentiss admitted with a defeated huff.

“Yeah, all I can think about is that movie Frozen. Henry keeps watching it over, and over.” J.J. complained. 

“I’m pretty sure the lyrics to every song in that movie has been engraved into my brain.” Emily snarked.

“Now you know how I feel all the time.” Spencer joked. The girls shared a look, and Spencer knew something was up.

“So, how did Elsa get her powers anyway?” J.J. asked.

“Good question.” Prentiss said, nodding. Spencer physically winced.

“Guys, the answer to that is obvious!” Spencer complained.

“Maybe the trolls cursed her family.” J.J. suggested.

“Maybe it was in her family genes.” Emily added.

“Maybe could have been a fairy blessing.” J.J. pointed out.

“Or, like you would know if you had paid attention to the movie,” Spencer said in a superior tone, “Maybe she was born with it.” 

“Or maybe its Maybelline!” both of the girls sang out. Spencer dropped his head on the table so hard people turned to stare, and Emily and J.J. died laughing.

“So, all we have for a collaboration is discussing conspiracy theories for a children’s movie?” Spencer sighed out in an exasperated manner. Despite the tone in his voice, his lips twitched in a small, fond smile, glad that his head was on the table so that the two females couldn’t see. 

“Ah, conspiracy theories. That takes me back.” Emily laughed, remembering that that was exactly how they had met

***  
Emily Prentiss was not a typical teenager in her opinion, which of course meant that she was exactly that. Having been moved around her whole life due to her mother’s line of work, she was not used to being in one school for too long. Because of this fact, Emily kept a secret notebook. The notebook was full of all the pranks that she had pulled on people in her schools. As the daughter of an important government official, she found that it was easiest to convince people that conspiracy theories were real. In the school before the one that she was currently attending, she had managed to get at least seventy percent of the student population to believe that her mother was putting her through treatments to turn her into a super soldier, like Captain America. She had to top that though, and her current school made it way too easy.

Spencer Reid. He was an eleven year old senior and the current top of his class. He was shy, did not speak often, and mercilessly teased by basically the whole school. To convince someone that Spencer had been genetically modified as some sort of government experiment would be easy. But Emily didn’t want to just convince one person, oh no. She wanted the whole school to believe it. So how do you get the whole school to believe something completely absurd? By starting with the most popular and influential students of course. Enter Jennifer Jareau, a.k.a. J.J. 

J.J. was the quintessential queen bee that nearly every school Emily attended had. She was the popular captain of the Soccer team, with the golden blonde pigtails and the big blue eyes. Of course at the time, J.J. had not appeared as the kind of person Emily would hang out with. Emily wore nothing but black and always had chains on some part of her body or another. J.J’s style was more trendy and girly. Emily’s nails were black, and J.J’s were pink. In high school, this meant that there was obviously nothing that they shared, however, in order for Emily’s plan to work, she would have to get close to the cheerleader. 

Well, that was how it originally started. Two weeks later, and Emily wondered if she could ever have been more wrong. Sure J.J. had lots of friends, but that was because she was actually a pretty relatable person. She was extremely athletic, and unexpectedly intelligent for someone raised in a small town, then again, Emily really should stop listening to stereotypes. J.J. and Emily had, much to the surprise of everyone including the two girls, become basically inseparable. As matter of fact, Emily almost felt bad about her plan. Only almost though, because she was pretty sure J.J. would just laugh when she found out she had been pranked.

It was on a Thursday that Emily put her plan into motion. Both she and J.J. had gotten detention for talking in class, and they were currently waiting outside the room for the teacher to come let them in. Leaning against the locker next to J.J’s, Emily nudged the blonde in the side to get her attention.

“Look, it's my mother’s favorite toy,” she said looking at Spencer. J.J. followed her line of vision, and tilted her head to the side.

“Spence? What does he have to do with your mother?” she asked.

“Well not my mother, so much as her line of work.” Emily whispered, conspiratorially. 

“Spence works with the government?” J.J. asked looking surprised.

“Not so much for them…” Emily said lowly. J.J. gave her a confused look.

“You see, Spencer is actually part of a pilot for a program my mother hopes to get funded. They’re giving Spencer these top secret treatments that are made to help his brain to function better. Their trying to smarten people. If it’s a success, all children born in the future will have to undergo the same treatment. You didn’t hear this from me though. I only know about it because I overheard my Mother talking about it.”

“Oh my gosh, poor Spence!” J.J. whispered, turning towards the boy. 

“Sorry I’m late, I was in a meeting.” The teacher said, finally making his appearance. He unlocked the door and ushered the girls and Spencer into the room. Both Emily and J.J. did double takes when the boy took his seat. They didn’t even think that it was possible for Spencer to get in trouble.

“Alright, now y’all don’t get too loud, and work on your homework or something. I need to go check on something right quick. If you don’t want to be counted as absent, you’ll be here when I get back.” The teacher said, grabbing a stack of papers off of his desk. He closed the door behind him, and both girls started giggling. 

“How much do you want to bet that the ‘thing’ he’s checking on is that new history teacher, Ms. Tine.” J.J. asked.

“Or the lunch ladies.” Emily joked. Then they turned their attention on their resident high school genius. The little nerd was sitting with a book larger than his head, flipping the pages so fast it was hard to keep up.

“I feel so bad for him now that I know the truth.” J.J. pouted.

“I’ve always felt bad for him. He seems so small and helpless.” Emily agreed.

“Why do you think he’s in detention?” J.J. asked.

“I don’t know, but maybe we should keep him company. Maybe he’ll even open up to us about what my Mother has been doing to him.” Emily suggested.

“We should.” Emily agreed. With that, both girls stood and walked over to Spencer. Emily sat on one side of his desk, and J.J. took the other. 

“So, what brought you to detention on this fine Thursday?” Emily asked. Spencer sat his book down, folded his hands in his lap, and shrugged.

“Aww, come on Spence, we’re just curious.” J.J. said. Spencer looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Spence?” he asked. J.J. giggled and Emily snorted. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. 

“Yep, that’s it.” J.J. said.

“We’re adopting you.” Emily agreed. Spencer looked between the two girls with wide fearful eyes.

“You’re so sitting with us at lunch for now on!” J.J. told him. Spencer swallowed, and looked down at his desk. Both girls grinned again, and spoke in unison.   
“Soooooooooo Spencer…” 

***

“Soooooooooo Spencer, why were you in detention?” both girls asked.

“Because I told Mr. Heinrich that he had solved the problem wrong.” Spencer replied with a shrug. Emily and J.J. shared a look before bursting into laughter. Spencer grinned, realizing that nothing had changed. They still ate lunch together, and gossiped like a bunch of old ladies.

“I love you guys.” he said, shaking his head.

“Aww, Spencer!” Emily cooed.

“We love you too!” J.J. said warmly.


	5. Pretty Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter, there was a tragedy in the family.

Chapter Five: Pretty Boy

Spencer was starting to wonder if this had been a good idea in the first place. He knew the content of David Rossi and Derek Morgan’s show was risqué at times, and that the atmosphere was the exact opposite of his own, but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the two goofballs in action. It had been quite some time since he had last hung out with them. Garcia had been so excited about be asked to guest film it that she had basically dragged him out of his house to go clothes shopping three days prior. Spencer really couldn’t understand why every special occasion called for new clothes, but he would rather go along with her than to face her wrath later. Despite the fact that Spencer had been humiliated enough times growing up that he had become numb to most of it, he didn’t like putting himself in embarrassing situations on purpose. Then again, he was a guest on this show, so perhaps he was more of a masochist than he had originally thought?

Apparently, this particular segment of show was solely based around bringing in an outside youtuber who hadn’t seen the statuses and photos that they had chosen and watching their reactions. They would first show Spencer a status that said something completely innocent, like ‘look at my new earrings,’or ‘check out my pet cat,’ and then show him the pictures that were posted with the captions. The pictures sometimes actually included what the post mentioned, like a glimpse of the pet in the background, or a barely visible shot of her new manicure, but they were mostly focused on scantily clad women and their body parts. They thought that Spencer would be the perfect guinea pig for this kind of collab due to the fact that he was lacking in social knowledge and happened to be a genius. Honestly, he had been dreading doing this, and now, with his face bright red and hidden in his hands, his faith in humanity was being completely destroyed. 

“Awh, pretty boy, what’s the matter? Don’t you like her socks?” Derek teased, gesturing to the rather lewd picture, wiggling his eyebrows at the brunet. Spencer glared at the man through his fingers, brown eyes surprisingly expressive with how much he hated him at the moment. Deciding the look definitely wasn’t enough, he voiced said emotions. 

“I hate you, so much. You know that right?” Dave grinned, winking at Spencer.

“But, they’re quite the color aren’t they. No, no, wait, Penelope, go to the next photo, what do you think about her…kitten?” He teased, both he and Derek absolutely losing it when Spencer just hid his face more.

“Doesn’t this make you want to go out and buy a pussy, pretty boy?” Derek teased. Garcia gasped, and hit him upside the head. 

“Alright that’s enough torture you two jerks. I’m sure you have plenty of footage here for a show.” she reprimanded them putting her camera down.

“Aww, come on baby girl, we didn’t mean anything by it.” Morgan said, placating the frazzled mama geek.

“Yeah, we were just messing with him.” Rossie added, not looking apologetic in the least.

“Thank you!” Spencer said, jumping up and dashing out of the room. Derek and Dave laughed at this, and Garcia couldn’t help but to giggle.

“Actually, I have a question for you, handsome man.” Garcia said, addressing Morgan.

“Shoot.” Derek shrugged, grinning at her.

“When did you start calling Spencer Pretty Boy? I mean, he definitely is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but how did that nickname come about?” Garcia asked while packing her camera up.

“That my lovely darling, is a long story. You got some time to hang out?” Derek asked, glancing out the door that Spencer had ran through.

“Ah, tell the lady what she wants to know. I’ll go babysit the pup.” Dave said, winking at the two before following after Ried. Garcia and Derek each took a seat on the two chairs Morgan and Rossi usually hosted the show from. 

“It all started when I was physical education tutor in college, and Spencer was required to pass at least one P.E. class before he could graduate with his fifth degree due to some changes the University made it their curriculum.”   
\---

 

When Derek Morgan had been in college, he had had a lot of friends, but his closest one had been David Rossi. They often spoke of big dreams and meaningless gossip. Right now, Dave was telling Derek of the little skinny twig that had taken up residence in his room.

“I swear, Derek, he’s not even twenty. He’s gotta be at the very most nineteen, yet he has all these certificates and books. There are so many books, Derek...Like, he had to start putting them under his bed, because he already filled the bookcase in! It’s insane, and apparently he’s going to be in our Phys Ed class.” Dave rushed out, putting his hands over his eyes as he lounged on Derek’s couch, laughing. 

“God, I can’t even see that kid doing one push up, let alone the required twenty.” 

“I dunno, man. It’s always the quiet ones.” Derek pointed out with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows at the Italian, who quickly cracked up, shaking his head. 

“He was quiet for all of an hour until he saw my psych books and then he didn’t shut up. About anything. He changed subjects so quickly that I got a headache. We covered twenty topics in about half that amount of times. I couldn’t even keep up with him, and I’m a senior.” 

“Wait, don’t only seniors room with seniors?” Derek asked. He knew this for a fact, as he had tried to room with Dave before but they had told him that because he was only a junior he wasn’t allowed to. If this kid really was a senior… No. There had to be some mistake or something.

“That’s what I said, right? And he just looks at me with this confused look and goes ‘This is going to be my fifth B.A.’ and I kinda just sit there and stare at the kid. How the hell could someone so young have that many degrees, right?” Dave asked, hoping that he wasn’t the only one a little bit put off by this. 

“Wait, what?!” Derek squeaked, having thought that he had been doing well for his age, but apparently not. Damn, if that wasn’t a reality check. It was at that exact moment that the door to Rossi’s room flew open, and a tall skinny youth stumbled in, looking rather upset.

“What’s wrong, Genius?” Rossi asked, surprising Derek with how uncondescending he sounded despite the use of the term ‘Genius’. 

The youth seemed to do a double take at the guest in the room but let out a puff of breath and relaxed anyway, going to the desk that Derek assumed was his due to all the textbooks and certificates on it and rather heavily sat down his messenger bag, making both males raise their eyebrows. 

“I just found out that there is no way I can get ouf of doing Physical Education. There is also no way I’ll be able to pass that course. I mean, do I look like an athlete to you? I’m a scholar.” He rubbed both hands over his face and Derek’s heart broke. The little guy just looked so delicate and defeated. So he took pity on the kid. 

“Well, you know, I am a Phys. Ed. tutor…” And suddenly he was cut off by fervent begging from the kid. 

“Are you really? Could you please tutor me, I really need to pass this course, there was a reason I chose this school, and it was most definitely not for their Physical Education class. Please?” He asked, even putting his hands together, lacing the fingers and taking a few steps toward the man. Worried that the kid’s legs might give out, he held out his hands, rather shocked at how persistent the boy was being, despite the fact that he was pretty sure they had never met at all. 

“Whoa, kid, slow down. You beg pretty and all, but you really don’t have to. Alright, Pretty Boy?” Derek asked. It was a bit humorous to see someone floundering so much for something that wasn’t that big of a deal to him. Dave apparently thought so too, especially after Reid’s mouth started opening and closing like a fish, because he started laughing, elbowing Derek in the side. 

“Well, at least it looks like he can be trained.” He winked. 

“I’m not a dog you know.” The genius snapped, seemingly finding his voice again.

“Might as well get used to it pretty boy,” Morgan said with a smirk, “Because you’re my bitch now.”  
\---  
“You really said that to my geek baby?” Garcia huffed out, but couldn’t get too mad. What was in the past was in the past. 

“Yeah, I did, and we did actually train him. See, watch, come with me.” He told her and a smirking Dave, leading her to the room that Spencer had stormed off to. Seeing Reid pacing around with a book in his hand, Derek knew this was too good to pass up. 

“Spencer, sit.” He stated, his voice deepening, turning authoritative and commanding. Surprisingly, Spencer’s legs gracefully folded underneath him, his fingers not pausing in their flipping through the pages. 

“Hey, wait a second!” Spencer snapped, head jerking up from where he was now sitting on the floor to glare at two laughing males. He was surprised Dave had yet to fall to the ground with how laughing so hard. 

“I’m not a dog!” He snapped.

“Really? Cause you’re getting real bitchy.” Derek snarked back only to get suddenly pounded from behind by two probably well manicured fists. 

“Hey! Stop hitting me!” Derek yelped out, trying to duck away. 

“You did not just call my baby genius that!” Garcia exclaimed. Dave was now on the ground, pleading with them. 

“Oh God, stop, I can’t breathe-. It hurts, I’m getting too old for this… Oh God, I’m crying,look at this, look at what you’re doing to the poor old man-” Dave managed to gasp out between his laughter. Spencer snickered. 

“Serves you right.” He stated, sticking his tongue out at the two evil males… He couldn’t believe he had actually followed that order.


	6. Meeting the Tech Goddess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summaries ruin the fun, you'll just have to read and find out ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally added my co-author!

To:  [afraidofyourownmin52@gmail.com ](mailto:afraidofyourownmind@gmail.com)

From: [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

Subject: Collab. 

 

Dear Doctor Reid,

On the thoughts of a collaboration, when would you be free?  I’m assuming that you have a schedule for your show, or a few episodes planned in advance.  Your show tends to include a lot of research.  I’m sure you can tell mine does as well.  With that taken in account, I won’t be available for the next three weeks.  How about after that?

Sincerely, 

Hotch

Aaron Hotchner 

 

To:  [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

From:  [ afraidofyourownmind52@gmail.com ](mailto:afraidofyourownmind@gmail.com)

Subject: Collab.

Dear Aaron Hotchner,

I do scripting, relay the information and maintain the email address while my co-host, Penelope Garcia, does the technical aspects and scheduling.  Maybe you should get a hold of her?  I have a pretty good idea and we can confer on the scripting and research aspect of it. 

Penelope Garcia, technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com 

Sincerely,

Doctor Spencer Reid

 

To:  [ afraidofyourownmind52@gmail.com ](mailto:afraidofyourownmind52@gmail.com)

From:   [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

 

Dear Doctor Reid, 

I’ll make sure to get a hold of her then.  I look forward to working with you and Ms. Garcia.  I find the dynamic between the two of you to be almost as entertaining as the show itself.  I honestly don’t know how I never heard of your show before.  Your fanbase is incredibly insane, though I imagine they must impress their teachers with all the things that you teach them.  My colleagues were picking on me for finally having something other than serial killers to talk about. 

Sincerely,

Hotch

Aaron Hotchner

 

To: [ technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com ](mailto:technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com)

From:  [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

 

Ms. Penelope Garcia,

My name is Aaron Hotchner.  I don’t know if Reid told you this, but we have been discussing the possibility of doing a collab.   Reid told me that I should talk to you about scheduling.  I will unfortunately not be available for about three weeks, but I would like to set up a time to go over things after that.  You can reach me at this email anytime, or by phone at *(***)***-****.  I look forward to working with the two of you.

Sincerely,

Hotch

Aaron Hotchner

 

To: [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

From:  [ technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com ](mailto:technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com)

 

Hi Hotch!  It is okay if I call you Hotch isn’t it?  ‘Cause its in your email signature thingy, so I thought that it was like some kind of nickname or something.  Oops, sorry,rambling via e-mail.

Anywho, yes Spencer told me about the collab.  It's been like all that he can talk about!  I'm pretty excited as well.  The fans have been begging for this for quite some time now.  So are you available for a meeting on Tuesday three weeks from now?  Let's say between 7 am and 9 pm?  This is the time my little nerd baby sets aside for researching, but he rarely ever takes longer than four hours.  Have you seen the man read a book?  Its insane.

Are we doing this via Skype, or are you willing to meet up with us?  From what I gather we live fairly close.  You ever heard of a diner called The Round Table?  We have lunch there basically three times a week.  You should totally drop by if you get the chance!  J.J, Emily, David, and Morgan will be there as well!  It could totally become our DC Youtubers secret hang out or something~!

P.S. I hear you’ve become a fan of ours?  ;P  

P.P.S And you can call my Garcia btw, everyone does.

Garcia

Goddess of Technology and all Things Technological

 

To: technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com

From:  [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

 

Dear Garcia,

Hotch or Aaron is fine.

Would you and Reid be willing to meet for lunch that Tuesday?  I’ve never tried The Round Table, but I do know of it.  I tend to favor The Dragon Wok.  Either place would be fine.

It would be nice to meet up with other youtubers from time to time, so I might just take you up on that.  

P.S. Where did Dr. Reid find you?  I need a Tech Goddess at the moment.  I’m three days behind in my editing, and I drowning in fan email.  Know any Techs looking for a job? 

Sincerely,

Hotch

Aaron Hotchner

 

To:  [ nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com ](mailto:nooneremembersthevictims@gmail.com)

From: technicalgoddessofknowledge@gmail.com

Oohhh, I haven’t had Chinese in forever!  We are definitely meeting at The Dragon Wok.  And now you absolutely have to come by for lunch at The Round Table one day.  I’m already telling everyone that you said you would so you can’t back out of it now.

As for how I met Spencer…  Well if I told you I would have to kill you, and that would break the poor Doc’s fragile little heart.  I do know a guy who needs a side job though.  I’ll bring him on Tuesday so it can be a collab discussion/job interview/lunch type deal.

Sound Good?  
  


Goddes of Technology and all Things Technological

***

           The con was extremely crowded, not that Penelope Garcia was surprised.  The hype for this convention had been going on for  _ months,  _ as there was to be a panel with David Tennant and John Barrowman from Doctor Who.  That was one of the main reasons Penelope Garcia was here dressed as she was.  Brown wig firmly in place with a fez pinned on, Penelope cut a stunning figure in the plaid suit jacket with a matching dress underneath and a green bow tie to accentuate the bright green trim of the suit. She thought her cosplay of the seventh doctor was pretty great.

 

That was until she ran into someone dressed as the fourth doctor not paying attention.  She stumbled back on her heels, but luckily caught herself. Sadly the same could not be said for her fez. She bent to grab her it, before turning to the man to apologize.

 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Penelope exclaimed.

 

“No, no it was all my fault, I wasn’t even watching where I was going!”  The guy exclaimed, bending to pick up the little action figure that he had clearly just bought.

 

“Neither was… oh my gosh I love your outfit!”  Garcia call, finally taking notice of just who she ran into.  He was dressed like the fourth doctor from season one, with the red blazer, wide brimmed fedora, uniquely patterned waist coat, and the iconic multi-colored scarf.  The man had even curled his hair!

 

“Yours is amazing as well.”  He said beaming at her.

 

“I’m Penelope Garcia by the way.”  Garcia said, holding out her hand.  To her surprise the man took a step back.

  
  


The man was cosplaying in the Doctor’s waistcoat, cravat, trouse r [ s ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousers) , a frock coat the first being the reddish-brown blazer that he wore throughout all of his first season the other two (full-length) coats were dark brown (for the darker horror stories) and light grey (for more action-packed stories). At the time, The Wardrobe Department also provided a brown wide-brimmed felt fedora.impractically long, multi-coloured scarf, which was apparently knitted for him by Madame  Nostr a damus (whom he refers to as a "witty little knitter"). When it is damaged in  _ The Ark in Space _ , the Doctor declares with regret that it's "irreplaceable." How the man before her got all of this wrapped up, she had no idea. 

 

“I’m Doctor Spencer Reid.” The man introduced, giving a shy little wave. 

  
Penelope giggled, unable to help it. “I get it. Doctor.” She winked. She was a little surprised when the joke received a shake of the head. 

 

“No, actual doctor. I have a doctorate in Mathematics and Engineering and I’m starting my Ph.D. in Chemistry soon.” Spencer stated matter-of-factly. 

 

“Wow...A wild baby nerd has appeared. I must capture him. Come on! We better hurry or we’re going to be late for the panel!” Penelope stated, grasping the genius’s arm and tugging him along. 

 

The con went by in a huge, nerdy blur.  There were tons of costumes and many photographs to be taken as well as plenty of panels to attend.  Spencer actually seemed to really enjoyed himself with Penelope despite how clearly uncomfortable he was due to her touching him so much.  Penelope, for her part, had never had so much fun at a convention.  It was amazing being with someone who always knew exactly which episode she was talking about.  If it weren’t for the fact that she had caught him eyeing up a particularly fine specimen of the male population, she might have even tried to hit on him.  Instead she had elbowed him and winked, earning her a blush and an appreciative smile.  Sadly, all good days must come to a close and she learned that the poor baby didn’t even have an email address, just a flip phone, so she quickly gave him her number so she could have another nerd buddy to drag into things such as these.  As they parted ways she thought that she might never actually see him again.

 

That was until her new college classes came up.  She was taking a psychology class with Professor Gideon and honestly, she was rather excited for it.  She mainly had a knack for computers, hacking, that sort of deal, but she had a choice between psychology, sociology and communications and she kind of wanted to learn a bit more about psychology.  The communications classes were all full anyways.  She was on her last year and she really needed to get this last core class covered.

 

It was about a week or two in when she noticed someone who looked vaguely familiar.  It looked like her little doctor nerd from the con but she thought it surely couldn’t be.  The universe wasn’t that awesome.  Despite her doubts, however, when Professor Gideon told them to partner up for a group project, she immediately shot up.   
  
“I claim the little nerd genius!” She shouted, noticing the look of surprise on the younger teen’s face.  He looked about nineteen out of costume.  When she strode over, she waved with a neatly manicured hand, a smile on her lips. 

 

“Hi, I’m Penelope Garcia, technical genius and goddess but everyone just calls me Garcia. And you, boy wonder?” Penelope asked with a hopeful smile on her lips. 

 

A look of recognition passed over the boy’s face and she almost did a jump for joy.  

 

“I think we met at a con about a month ago.” Spencer, she recalled, stood and gave her a smile, “It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”  
  
“I’m glad to meet you again too.  We should get to work on this project, but I have a deal for you.  You have to be in front of the camera, and I’ll work the beauty that is technology from behind and we’ll both do the research.  Deal?”

 

Little did Garcia know, and much to her surprise the day of filming, Spencer was made for the camera.  Once he got into the facts and statistics of his subject and stopped worrying that is.  It was fascinating to hear him speak about their topic, his voice and body language translated absolutely great on the computer.  The project was actually just on researching and presenting Operant and Classical conditioning and cases of each.  It wasn’t necessarily an interesting project but Spencer’s enthusiasm and word choices  _ made  _ her excited and interested in what he was saying.  When it was over, she quickly bounded up to him with a happy little squeal, putting his face between her hands and squishing it. 

 

“Oh, my little baby nerd, that was beautiful!  You were absolutely made for the camera, that was so good!  I didn’t think it was going to be nearly as interesting as it was. How did you do that?” She crooned out.  Reid seemed confused; his eyebrows furrowed. 

 

“ ‘Baby nerd?’ I just...talked about it?  It’s very interesting, Garcia, I don’t see what you mean by I made it interesting.”  Spencer stated, raising an eyebrow as he struggled to talk around his squished cheeks.  Penelope ignored the raised eyebrow and shook her head.  

“For people not into Psychology, it wouldn’t be interesting, my junior G-man.  So, let me tell you that that would’ve interested a whole lot of people who wouldn’t have been interested in it originally.” 

 

“Oh...Well, I just hope I got the information across right. I made a few on the spot adjustments, I just hope that our grade won’t suffer for that.” It seemed as if he was...timid about the performance and Garcia knew she had to stamp that out right now.   
“You did great, hon. Really, I promise!” She cooed with a grin.  She couldn’t wait to post this to Youtube.  Part of the assignment was to post on a social media website so that the professor could view it.  It was simply easier that way, or so he had claimed. 

 

 A few weeks after they posted it  Penelope  got a notification on the email she used for the video.  It had already gotten two hundred views and about 35 comments, all asking for more videos with interesting, strange content about the world.  Deciding to bring this up to Reid, she quickly sought him out after class.

 

“Okay, this is gonna sound really crazy,” Penelope prefaced, which probably didn’t bode well, ‘but I got a notification on my email last night. Apparently, our video has two hundred views and 35 comments asking for more videos about strange things that occur in the world. What do you say, Doctor? Think you can handle a webshow?” 

 

“No.”  Reid deadpanned.  Garcia had been expecting this, and smirked.

 

“I thought you would say that, which is why I have prepared by bringing with me the ultimate weapon with which to defeat you.”  She said proudly.  Spencer looked unimpressed.

 

“You are not going to be able to bribe me into doing this, Garcia.”  Garcia’s smirk morphed into a grin and she held up the folder in her hands.

 

“Which is why I have armed myself with LOGIC.” Garcia cheered before slamming the folder down on the table, opening it up and looking up at him. “I have scholarly articles on how the internet has helped people learn and broaden themselves, as well as comments from our viewers saying they never knew that simple things such as an annoying red light could alter their behavior without them even knowing. They’re fascinated, Doctor! Just think, you could be teaching so many people, without ever having to actually see them while doing it. I also have some articles on technophobia and I don’t believe you have that severe of a case so maybe it’s time you started getting...therapy for it.” Garcia beamed, rather proud of herself for all of her research.   

 

“And if the isn’t enough, I have a bargaining chip as well.  I’ll set you up an e-mail account and handle editing and uploading the videos.  The only thing you’ll have to do technologically is read through your fan-mail.”  

 

“No.”  Spencer replied, glaring at Garcia.  The tech goddess pouted up her bottom lip and began to sniffle.

 

“I mean I don’t see a problem with not being comfortable using technology.  I don’t think I need to ‘fix’ myself.”  he argued.  Garcia continued to sniffle, and looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.  They stayed locked like this for a few moments before Spencer finally sighed and Garcia grinned knowing he had given in.

 

“You did go through all this trouble though, so I suppose I could do a few more shows.”  He relented.  Garcia began to jump up and down, but before she could get to excited he held up a hand.

 

“But just a few.  I am not in any way agreeing to do this on a permanent schedule.”  He told her.  Garcia just giggled, and hugged him anyway.

***

  
Garcia looked over their schedule for next week, trying to plan a time for their collab and grinned to herself as she remembered her baby nerd’s comment.  Right.  A not permanent schedule. 


	7. A Collaborative Project

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer Reid finally gets to meet his idol on better terms.

Reid was a nervous wreck, to say the least. He was meeting his idol here, a second time, after being practically crushed the first. To say that he was nitpicking about the details of his physical appearance was a severe understatement. He ran his fingers roughly through his hair as he stared in a mirror one last time before Garcia dragged him away from it. She huffed, and fixed his hair for him. 

“You look fine, Baby nerd. Stop fretting, he’s going to love you. Well not like Love you love you but like… You would think you were going to meet your long term crush with the way you’re acting. Just relax, I'll doll you up if you really want but you look fine.“ She teased and reassured him in the same sentence while fixing up his shirt by unbuttoning a few buttons at the top before returning to his hair. 

“It's not like that. I just need to make a good impression, Garcia. I have admired his videos for years! What if he personally hates me? It is well known that first impressions are made within seven seconds and very hard to change! Do you think I left a very good first impression last time? How is he going to react to me now? What if he’s disappointed in how I work? What if the way we both present information clashes?” Reid couldn’t help but panic a bit on the inside. This was very important to him. Not only would this help his channel by broadening his viewing range but he would also be working with someone he had dreamed of working with since the beginning of his channel. 

“Hey. Breathe, Spencer, okay?” Garcia demanded, grabbing Spencer by the shoulders now. “You will do great. You’ll both get along. Talking to him, he’s a really nice guy and he’s going to love you. He’s very excited to get to work with you, okay? So just breathe, and do your thing. You get amazingly, breath-takingly photogenic when in front of the camera, like you were born to do this thing. So, get up there and show the big man what you got.” She told him with a smirk. Awww, her little baby totally had a crush on the big youtuber guy. 

Spencer took a deep breath and nodded. He knew she was right. Besides, they were only meeting for a discussion on what they could cover. He had told Hotch that he wouldn’t mind covering a serial killer, but since this was going to be on his channel, he’d prefer to cover something that was out of his usual scope and do something simply strange that humans did or made instead. Hotch had replied that they would discuss it further in person but that he was interested. He just hoped this went okay. 

 

~*~Wibbly-wobbly Timey-wimey Stuff~*~

 

Spencer looked into the restaurant nervously before taking a deep breath. He could do this, especially with Garcia by his side. He smiled over at her, and held out an arm, letting her wrap hers through it before leading her inside. He looked around, taking in the decor. Instead of a dark red interior, which is what one would assume for a place called the ‘Dragon Wok’, the place was a warm golden color, mainly from the glow of the lights splashing onto the walls and lighting up the beautiful traditional chinese drawings that were set all into the black walls. Chinese symbols curled elegantly along the black wall in beautiful golden script, the tables set up to where the room looked filled, but not cramped. The lights themselves curled along the ceiling in square origami-like trails, making the atmosphere a lot softer than it should’ve been. 

Spotting their third was difficult in the dimness, but the pull on his arm by the excited Technical Goddess told Spencer that he had been found. Looking in the direction that Penelope was dragging them, Spencer finally caught sight the man himself. 

The senior Youtuber wasn’t exactly dressed to his best, but certainly wasn’t casual. In a white button up untucked from black slacks and hair barely brushing his forehead, he looked more like a stressed man planning on relaxing after work than someone meeting with another for business. Then again, Spencer was relieved, as he himself was dressed similarly in a baby blue button up and dark navy slacks. His own hair was recently cut but still fell to about his eyebrow. 

Hotch stood with a smile, holding out his hand.  
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Doctor Reid, Garcia.” 

Reid grimaced but luckily Penelope jumped to the rescue and shook the man’s hand instead.  
“Pleasure. My little baby here doesn’t shake hands, sorry.” She explained and Reid gave a little wave and an apologetic smile.  
“Now, let’s get started on this bad boy of a collab. It’s going to be amazing! Ever since our little gathering heard about it, they’ve been going nuts. Apparently, they think you two will create quite the pair.” Hotchner smiled good naturedly about this, but it seemed a little tense. Or perhaps Spencer was reading things wrong? Unsure of what to do or say, Reid gave his own forced smile and took a seat, picking up his menu. Garcia took the chair next to him, and Hotchner reclaimed the his spot across from the both of them.

While they sat, and waited for the waiter/waitress to come take their drink orders, Reid decided to break the ice by having a non business related conversation. 

“So, what made you join youtube?” He asked. His own reasoning was actually kind of long winded but definitely funny in the long run. 

“Hm? Oh. I joined because I’ve always been a bit interested in how people view and handle serial killers. People tend to sensationalize them, to make them grander than they deserve to be, and often times the facts and the victims’ stories get lost in that.” Aaron shrugged, flipping through the menu. 

“That’s actually a really good reasoning.” Spencer mused aloud before looking down to his own menu, gathering his thoughts. 

“I wanted to provide people with the truth, on both of those topics. What about you? Why did the two of you get into Youtube?” Hotchner asked.

“It mainly began when Garcia and I did a project for a Psychology class that had to be posted online. She pointed out to me that a lot of people were interested in the kind of experiments I listed and how strange it was that the human mind could be altered so easily, and we struck up a deal. I’d continue with the videos, do the research and keep up with the fans if she handled setting up everything technological. It’s worked out really well for us.” Reid looked over to Garcia and grinned. 

“Though, I think we have enough gag reel footage to make a movie at this point. She doesn’t really know when to not make sarcastic comments.”

“I keep telling you we should post our gag footage but nooo.” Garcia huffed, rolling her eyes, “The fans would love to get to see a less serious side of you.” 

“Not all of my content is serious, Garcia.” Reid argued back, and the banter would have continued, but they were quieted by a waiter showing up to take their orders. 

Quickly ordering, it was onto business now that most of the interruptions would be out of the way. Reid sat up a little straighter in his seat, clearing his throat. 

“I was thinking that maybe we could come to an agreement on a topic or odd happening that might have a little to do with both of our channels but not overly one or the other. There’s a subsection I’ve been thinking of doing called Scarring Sevens where it covers seven different instances that tend to be a bit twisted. Such as a picture I’ve located of the shooters a few days before the Columbine Shooting in a class photo pointing imaginary guns at the camera.” Spencer stated. 

“That sounds interesting. With each one I could give a mini profile.” Hotchner said, nodding, “what are the other six topics you wish to cover?” 

Reid was about to answer when Garcia choked a bit on the water she was sipping from. Both of the men at the table turned to look at her, but she just sat the glass down and smiled.

“You never told me you wanted to start another series.” she said in a tone that Reid recognized as her ‘trying to hide something’ tone. He raised an eyebrow and glanced around the restaurant. 

Two tables down from them was two men, trying to hide their faces with scarfs and hats, but Reid would recognize them anywhere. Derek Morgan gave Reid a thumbs up, while Rossi just grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. Letting out a sigh, Spencer discreetly turned to look behind them. Sure enough there were two women sitting close enough to hear some of their conversation. J.J. actually looked a bit apologetic, but Emily was unabashedly spying.

“I wouldn’t want to make your workload any larger.” Hotchner said politely.

“We can get rid of one of the other series. Which one was it that you said was doing poorly?” Spencer asked, turning back to Garcia.

“I didn’t say that it was doing poorly, just that it was attracting some creepy viewers. Nothing you do is bad. And really, the workload is not a problem, Mr. Hotchner. I love what I do. I was only teasing the good doc.” Penelope explained.

“I don’t exactly want to be drawing that kind of attention then, Garcia.” Spencer explained before turning to Hotch with a smile. 

“We like doing what we do. It’s worth the workload even if we might complain and groan during the actual working process.” Reid couldn’t help but laugh at some of the memories of Penelope whining about how much editing she had to do. Hotchner relaxed a bit more at this.

“I just wanted to make sure that this wouldn’t overburden anyone. Which series is it that has been causing issues? I have to admit, I only read through the comments on my favorite videos.” Hotchner explained.

“It’s the series Reid started doing about the really creepy, dark stuff on the internet. It caused some unwanted attention, I suppose. Like, how there’s a website for cannibals and people who want to be eaten to meet up. It’s a very strange place, Mr. Hotchner and he figured it’d be something his viewers were interested in learning about. Like, kind of a ‘something like that exists?’ morbid kind of viewing. It didn’t exactly turn out that way and well, we’ve been talking about ending it for a long time.” 

“Oh, I think I do recall looking that one over. I found it very interesting, but if I recall correctly the comments were either death threats or advertisements. It's a shame though, I enjoyed the topic.” Hotchner said shaking his head.

“Really? What was your favorite part?” Reid asked, perking up at the idea of his idol actually enjoying his work.

“The segment about the website selling victims to serial killers. Some of the buyers on the website were killers I’ve covered, and I didn’t even know they used sites like that. I never would have even thought such a thing could be satisfying to them. Part of why serial killers do what they do is because they enjoy the chase. What I want to know is what these sites provide that can replace the high of the hunt, and how likely is it to become even more problematic.”

“Actually, Doctor Helen Morrison has conducted a lot of research to figure out why serial killers actually kill. A lot of them in her interviews seem to play along to normal society, and try to provide something we can grasp but none of it really hits home with them. One admitted that he did it simply to see what would happen while the other just had the thought he simply needed ‘to get him one’. They’re addicted, but no one is quite sure as to why or what really drives them but there is a difference between mass murderers, such as Columbine or any vigilante killer you can think of because they actually do have a solid reason for their killings while with serial killers, there’s really no concrete reason.” Spencer stated, taking a deep breath after his little lecture. 

“I am familiar with both Morrison and Goldberg, and their theories. I was referring to the fact that most serial killers enjoy choosing their targets, and for specific reasons. How do you believe they will be affected by having websites where they can be as picky as they want about their victims, Dr. Reid? And how much harder will it be to catch them if we can’t even keep up with where their victims are coming from?” Hotchner asked, clearly interested in hearing Reids opinion. They were like kids in a candy store.

“See, that’s where it gets tricky because if we can find the websites, do you know how easy it would be to track them all down with a good enough hacker?” Reid asked, brown eyes lighting up in delight before Garcia smoothly cut in. 

“Not that I’m not enjoying the little nerd fest but we do have business to conduct.” She teased lightly, shaking her head. Nerds. 

“Right sorry. Just, that’s exactly the kind of audience interaction I was hoping for when I started that series but instead it got...Bad.” Reid shivered before continuing. “Anyway, I was hoping to have your help with finding the other six. Do we have a deal, Mr. Hotchner?” 

“I believe we do, Doctor Reid.”

Garcia squealed with delight, and a loud crash was heard. 

“I’m so sorry, Professor!” Morgan was saying as he handed a napkin to the Psychology Professor. Elle Greenway, the Professors assistant, was giggling and the Professor’s face was unreadable. Behind Spencer’s table the two girls began to cackle with laughter.

“Maybe we should go.” Spencer suggested.

“But the food hasn’t even gotten here yet.” Garcia pouted. It was then that Spencer's favorite waiter appeared with the to-go boxes in hand. 

“Thought you would want to take this one to the park.” The fragile looking boy stated. 

“Thanks Nathan, I owe you. Again.” Spencer smiled

“So, Mr. Hotchner,” Spencer said, slurring the name so that it almost sounded Southern, “Would you like to join us in the park?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The book referenced here is My Life Among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison, M.D. and Harold Goldberg.


	8. The budding of a friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((I am so so sorry this took so long! I'm gonna try and get into a regular posting schedule. It's a little hardv without internet.
> 
> That being said, anyone interested in becoming a beta reader? It'd help loads!))

The video had been going rather smoothly. They had done countless planning to incorporate both of their shows. So, they were covering odd deaths caught on camera. Naturally, the two started making jokes and goofing around on camera. From conspiracy theories to the joke of Ted Cruz being the zodiac killer, little snorts and nudges between the two that would sometimes break out into little pushing matches. Eventually, the show actually did get back on track but later, Garcia was complaining quite loudly about all the deleted footage.

“You two just get lost in making such nerdy jokes. I've been editing for hours. They're losing so much of the actual footage! Like, I'm getting maybe 20 minutes out of 50 minutes of footage.” Then, the godsend that was Aaron Hotchner voiced what she had been saying for months. 

“Why don't you post the blooper reel too? I'm sure they'd love to see how the two of the youtubers they watch are coming together. Besides, it'll let them see you're human. Make you more relatable,” Hotch explained, and Garcia could swear there was a little smugness on the tall man's. She was totally prepared for the disappointment when Reid gave his usual speech. He wasn't sure that would go over well, what with the seriousness of his show. She was completely thrown for a loop when Reid agreed.

Gawking at the younger genius at first, she turned her eyes to the other youtuber in the room. He shrugged at her awed, 'wtf’ stare his way. Well. It seems they would finally be posting bloopers.

If Reid ever denied his total crush over this guy again, she might just kill him. 

It seemed slowly but surely the internet agreed. She didn't want to tell Reid what they meant when the fans said they were so good together in comments and emails. She let him say how they hoped to do more videos and to become quite good friends.

Poor kid had no clue the force the internet could run with a ship. Hell, kid didn't even really understand that real people could be shipped like that. He had no clue that they could run with just bare subtext, let alone the juice they were giving them with not just that video and subsequent blooper video, but more coming after it. Not all of them strictly professional and there was so much eyefucking and sexual challenging in the form of intelligent debates that even the most skeptical viewers noticed.

For example.

“Please tell me you don't believe the absolute nonsense of the debate of the argument supporting nurture versus nature, do you?” 

“Oh really? Well, Mr. Genius, please give me an insight since you seem to know oh so much.” Then the dark haired man had given a smirk and a slight lick of the lips, which the genius had obviously zeroed in on. 

“Well, Mr. Hotchner, since you insist, the whole argument is ludicrous.” Reid mimicked Hotchner’s lip licking and continued his argument, but with a lot less eye contact.

Don't even get her started on the heart eyes.

Reid was obviously making heart eyes as the man warmly greeted his audience, a small smile playing on his lips. It wasn't for long but it was obvious about the affection the kid felt for Hotchner.

Hotch would do the same when Reid gave his signature outro of “I'll see you lovelies next Wednesday.”

Behind the scenes and bloopers were even worse. They laughed, and joked and bumped against one another. They even got into a playful little shoving match, all the while mocking one another. 

Their whole fandom was dying from the cuteness.

So, it was about time that Reid noticed.

And boy...when he noticed...


	9. Discovering Fandoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid discovers fanfiction and shipping. Will the Hotch/Reid ship get between their growing friendship?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((Hello! Hope it hasn't been too long for y'all! Next chapters up, and thanks to our lovely beta, hopefully there will be less errors! I hope you all enjoy!))

Reid hadn't even been directly contacted about it by the fans. It was Morgan, who knew of Reid's growing attraction to the other YouTuber, who had sent Reid the story stating he just thought he should know people were writing about him in such a manner. He just wasn't sure how to take it. Sure, it was one thing to admire and crush the way he was because Hotch would never catch on. But if he read one of these, it would become all too obvious.

So, he went to Garcia. She always knew how to make him feel better and right now he needed that. So, he went up and showed her what he had been sent.

“Oh, baby nerd. It happens to all the big youtubers who get close. It's better to joke about it and brush it off. The fans can see romance in even hate, okay? Don't let it mess up Hotch and your friendship. Besides, a lot of youtubers read it about themselves or other people for their fans and it's all a good laugh. It just means they like you, okay?” Garcia was worried. This could make or break a YouTube friendship. It all depended on how they took it.

“What if Hotch sees it though, and doesn't like it or thinks it's awkward?” Reid was growing used to having his new friend on his show. More often than not they were in each other channels providing commentary and if they weren't on the channel they were at least being mentioned in some way.

“Talk to him about it then. Tell him you were sent it by a concerned friend and ask how he wants to handle the situation, and that you don't want it to make it awkward between you two.” Sometimes, the kid overlooked the obvious solution. He overthought it, putting too many variables that didn't matter into play.

Reid knew and had accepted she was right. It was just so hard to bring up. Apparently his behavior had changed. One moment they were ending the video and next Hotch was asking Garcia to give them a moment.  
“Spencer? You've been acting really off lately. You didn't even take the bait I obviously threw your way. What's going on?” Hotch knew his friend and his behavior had been very odd as of late. He was very distant and their videos together were growing further and further apart.

Spencer sighed, and scratched the back of his neck. It really wasn’t fair for him to hide this. So, he explained what he had been sent and his fear about it ruining their friendship. It was a huge shock when Aaron laughed.  
“Spencer, that’s just fans. They write it about you and Rossi, and others too. I know because I’ve been sent those things about other co stars of mine. It’s just how they view interaction they see between all of us. A lot of us read them to get a good laugh and even read them on our channels. I know Derek and David does. We sometimes even get together and read them together. Nothing wrong with it and certainly doesn’t make me see you any different Spencer, okay?”

The reassurance made Spencer relax. It also sparked his curiosity. It sounded like there were so many of these stories and he got curious about how his fans saw him. Hotch had said it was okay to read these kinds of things, that most of them did it, so why not?  
There were so many different types! Currently, his favorite was different AU versions of themselves. There was fantasy, horror, slice of life, even them as FBI agents for crying out loud! It was amazing the kind of things their fans were coming up with. His current favorite were the Hogwarts AUs and the Sherlock Holmes AUs. Which is how he stumbled across his favorite author.

He didn’t know how it was possible but they captured all of their personalities and quirks so well, it was almost like they knew them personally. Which he didn’t think was possible. He even made an account to start leaving kudos and comments on their works. Of course he didn’t put his actual name in it. Not like they would believe it was actually him anyway, what with how many different variations of ‘Spencer Reid’ were on the site.  
It wasn’t until the stories started to get more romantic between certain characters that he figured he should stop reading, but he didn’t really want to. The writing was just too good, or at least that was the excuse he was going with. Even if the two main characters that the romantic storyline was written about happened to be Hotch and himself. It was something called a ‘slow burn’, apparently.

Garcia also supported his dive into ‘fanfiction’, though she was unaware that he was reading fanfiction about them, due to his dabbling in the other fandoms. They discussed fan theories about Sherlock’s new season, about the different AUs, who was their favorite characters and why. Their nerdiness just seemed to grow with his discovery of it.

Sometimes the fics were based on fanart, and Reid was kind of blown away by the talent of his fans. He started showing the drawings that didn’t include a ship in his segments, and telling his fans that he was proud to call them friends, maybe even family. To not be shy to message him or if they saw him out and about to say hello. It made his other friends smile and agree that it was a good way to make the fans feel included in the segments and help them feel important, valued. It fanned the flames a little but Reid was still so proud of his little fan group.

Maybe, it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.


	10. Chapter Ten: Author of Fanfiction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of them writes Fanfiction.   
> But which one??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((This is really short i'm super sorry, but I've been out in the field for two weeks and I'm just too fried to figure out how to add more.   
> I'll try to update as soon as I can to make up for it! This is from Hotch's pov.))

It was obvious that Reid was getting more and more involved with their fans and that included Hotch. It was actually quite astonishing to watch, and honestly, he had no idea how he'd never noticed the genius before. Reid just had a way lighting up when he babbled away about a topic or a debate. Usually, he tried to diffuse the amount of intensity with a more lighthearted discussion or a jab here or there. The doctor just loved to hit you with a shit ton of information at once. Hotch had no idea how he had caught this kid's attention. He was a whirlwind and he had to admit that he was scrambling to keep up. 

He was also a fan of getting familiar with his fans. Wow, were they imaginative, too. The things they could write, and come up with. The different worlds, the different situations. Some of it was completely outlandish, and others just shifted perspective. It was absolutely beautiful to see his groups fandom blossoming and coming up with such creative things. It also got him thinking. 

So, he took on an old challenge that he'd been dared to do by Rossi, which was to write a fanfiction about him and his friends. It was pretty tame, and not all that good but people seemed to think it was refreshing. Especially because it incorporated their content. So, he started making a series out of it. He never told anyone that it was himself writing it, but if it inspired his viewers so much, he'd write it. It was fun too, to imagine them all as FBI agents. Kinda hilarious, in Dave and Derek's case too. He couldn't see them abiding the rules all that well. 

Now with Reid getting more and more involved with the fans, and having discovered fanfiction, what would happen if he stumbled across his writing? He knew it could come off as creepy, though most of it wasn't really anything other than their personalities. He'd been complimented on his ability to characterize so well multiple times, and he felt a little like it was cheating, but they all seemed to enjoy it. That didn't necessarily mean his new friend would understand why he was writing. Just because Reid understood the sentiment behind it, didn't mean he'd understand the actions afterwards. 

Dave and Derek knew of it, as did a few others such as his new friends that Reid had introduced him to. They were all thrilled to be a part of his story. It was Reid he was worried about though. He had seemed so worried about it all, like fanfiction was a bad thing. That it would come between them. So, he told himself to not bring that up to Reid. 

However, he did notice something. A new reader, who was very verbal about how well his characterization was, and how much they loved the plot he was working with. Honestly, he was surprised with how much correspondence he was getting from this reader but it was nice. He made sure to respond when he could, but some of the comments were kind of just a 'hey, good chapter, can't wait for the next one!' so, there was really no way to respond to that other than a 'Thanks'. The comments kept him going with the story, made him want to come up with more. 

Dave or Derek would compliment him in person from time to time, saying that they liked a particular little thing here or there. JJ and Emily weren't really as close to him as they were Reid so he didn't really even hear feedback from them. 

It wasn't until recently that someone asked if his fic was a shipping fic. He'd never really thought about shipping his friends, or even himself with anyone. Not in his thoughts, let alone in his writing. He felt it was an invasion of their privacy, especially since he knew them. He tended to tell them no, that it was just a general fic about the group of friends, but he had noticed something.

It seemed his fondness for Reid was slipping into his writing by mistake. His character often defended the Doctor when he was underestimated or even one time swung in to his rescue. Sure, everyone on the team in the fic was protective of Reid but everyone seemed to have a little family role in the Doctor's life while he had none. He felt so guilty about it, but he didn't think there was anything he could do to stop it. It would continue to bleed over, even while he was trying to make sure it didn't. He supposed people could take what they wanted from the fic, but he wouldn't write them as being in a relationship. That just seemed out there. Even for him. So, he would continue writing and hope that if Reid ever found out, he would be understanding. Of course, if he requested that he stop writing about him, he would find some way to ease the transition of not having Reid in his stories and would respect the request.


End file.
